Author: Mary Brant
Last Friday, 310 Occidental students gathered in the Cooler to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through an annual letter-writing campaign as part of the Up ’til Dawn fundraising program.
The event lasted from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and included a host of activities from fundraising and food to student-led jazzercise.
The Up ’til Dawn fundraising program went nationwide in 1999. “What began as a means of strumming up on-campus support for the hospital has evolved into a multi-million dollar program that boasts participation from more than 200 colleges nationwide,” St. Jude wrote on its website.
The Greek Council, OSL, ASOC and Programming Board sponsored the event. Ashley Quintana (sophomore) was the executive director of the fundraiser and was responsible for the overall management of the event. She served as the liaison between the Executive Board and the ALSAC, the fundraising organization for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
The Executive Board consists of a Programming Board Representative, philanthropy chair representatives from Oxy’s fraternities and sororities and a representative from St. Jude.
Quintana had been planning Up ‘Til Dawn since August. “Seeing the event come together on Friday was amazing,” she said. “All the hard work the Executive Board and I did was worthwhile as we saw crowds of students come into the Cooler and start writing letters.”
Some students represented campus service clubs and Greek Life, while others came individually to write letters to family, friends and Oxy alumni. The letters embodied the dedication and service of the volunteers.
They read, “I believe in sacrificing a night of sleep in honor of the patients and their families that have many sleepless nights at the hospital.”
A family affected by cancer shared their story of the positive impact of St. Jude’s and cancer research on their life. The family’s young daughter received treatment, allowing the family to “hear that four letter word: cure.” Students applauded and continued to address letters through the evening.
Leah Glowacki (junior) participated in the event last year through her sorority, Delta Omicron Tau, and returned again for Friday’s campaign. “I think it’s really awesome to see so many students doing something together to support kids,” she said.
In the midst of the fundraising, members of Zeta Tau Zeta led attendants in a jazzercise lesson, encouraging volunteers to participate and boosting enthusiasm. Refreshments were also provided by some local restaurant donors, including Italianos, Dave’s Chillin’ & Grillin, Senor Fish and Spitz.
As the Co-Philanthropy Chair of Delta Omicron Tau on E-Board for Up ’til Dawn, Fay Walker (sophomore) also helped plan and organize the event.
“I didn’t really know that much about the event last year,” Walker said. “This year I knew I was working towards a good cause, but I was impressed with the number of people that showed up and the huge scale of letters produced.”
The Delta Omicron Tau sorority alone sent out 850 letters, and, in total, the volunteers wrote 2,955 letters.
“The Greek Community presence was a great component to the success of the event as over half those in attendance were Greek members,” Quintana said.
In addition to the letters completed Friday night, Quintana is still receiving letters from students who could not attend the event, and is also encouraging students to continue to raise funds. “The event was a success and I am hoping that Occidental will be able to fundraise as much money as we can for this great cause,” she said.
Next year, Quintana hopes to see Up ‘Til Dawn draw even more participants and be held in Rush Gym in order to accommodate this larger crowd of students.
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